Yet another "djenty" tone thread.

[Yoims]

I've had the biggest issue with getting a good tone out of my amp for months. I keep getting either terrible hiss, or a disgusting crackle.

I'm working on putting up a sound sample for you guys to give me some advice.

Here's my gear:

Schecter Blackjack ATX C-1 tuned to Drop A. (AEADF#B) SD Blackouts.
Peavey 6505+ 112 Combo
Maxon OD808
Boss NS-2


I've heard a lot of people say to switch the NS2 for the ISP Decimator which I plan on doing soon, but right now I have to work with what I have.

Amp setting right now: (Lead)
Presence: 8
Resonance: 6
High: 6
Mid: 8
Low: 3
Pre: 3

OD808
Drive: None
Tone: About 3 o' clocl
Balance: Max

Noise Suppressor:
Threshold: Max
Decay: Min

I know about the playing technique and such, and I'm looking for a tone similar to these guys:



So that big melodic chords ring out evenly, and staccato riffing is on point.

 

[Prestofly]

im not great with djent tones or anything but i have a isp decimator and i would never put the threshold up that high and you dont need a lot of lows but that to me seems like not enough lows and like i said im not great with djent tones but i dont think i would put my mids above my highs either

 

[pearl_07]

You're going to need a lot more lows than that. Try these setting:

Presence: ~6
Resonance: 8
High: 6
Mid: 4-5.5
Low: ~6
Pre: ~4

That should give you a decent starting point. Cutting the bass out and cranking the mids and presence isn't going to yield any quality results. It's been said a 1000+ times on this board: it's not your gear that's not djenting, it's you that's not djenting. Work on your pick attack and overall playing style to get that "djent" sound.

 

[Yoims]

Overall I like the tone I have, putting a bit more lows on it will probably sound better when I crank the amp, but as for right now I like how it sounds in my room. But my problem is that whenever I play the low open chords palm-muted I get this crackle from my amp, and it's annoying the shit out of me because I can't play them without it doing that if it rings for a second.

 

[DoomJazz]

Every 6505 that I've ever heard will always hiss. Just my two cents.

 

[kylendm]

Compressor would help a good amount and another noise suppressor in the front of the chain and in the back of the chain. Should be what you need.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Read the rules before you get in tubs from the mods!

 

[groph]

Every 6505 that I've ever heard will always hiss. Just my two cents.

This, and it seems to me that your presence and treble might be set really high.

6505's just have a bit of a buzzy grind to them, that's their character. They can easily sound awful if the presence and treble are set too high - it'll sound like a huge mess even if you're not using much gain, which you appear to have under control.

Just try dialing the highs back some more and crank the shit out of the mids. Maybe even dial the gain back a tiny bit and just pick harder to compensate. A "djenty" tone seems to mostly come from your pick attack anyway. Angle your pick a bit so the edge of the pick scrapes across the strings and pick with a closed fist if you're not already doing that. I can have my Peavey Bandit set to almost anything and get a djent-esque tone out of it just by varying the pressure I use when palm muting, how close to the bridge I hold my picking hand, and how hard I pick. A basic "djent" tone has a buttload of midrange, not a whole lot of gain, and I guess enough highs to sound clear, but you never want excessive hiss in any tone so dial the highs to taste.

EDIT: After listening to those clips, yes, dial your treble and presence back. That does a lot to smooth your tone out.

 

[KAMI]

djent is all about pick attack

 

[Greatoliver]

I would say a couple of things:

1) A lot of people swear by the 666 setting, with pres/res/gain on 4, and it is believed by many that it is a good tone. I found myself having trouble finding the sound I wanted and thinking I had a bad tone, but actually, even on the basic settings, these amps sound good. You probably do have a good tone! I would suggest maybe leaving the tone on noon on your OD808.

2) Try using the rhythm channel with crunch engaged. It feels a lot different to the lead channel, but is clearer and a bit more dynamic, imo. Try 6 on all the settings and see what you think.

Hope you find your tone man!

 

[Deadnightshade]

My two cents:

regardless of amp settings:

1)Set the noise suppressor threshold to the lowest setting that mutes your signal effectively.More than that and you get tone sucked,and you're stuck with hitting the strings with a bit more force than actually needed.Less than that and you get unfair extraneous noise.In any case,remember that it should be you that's muting the strings,not the noise suppressor.

2)Have dynamics in your pick attack,but don't rely solely on wacking hard in order to djent (A bit of a personal preference here).The final judge is you feeling loose when playing.Experiment with different pick grips,dynamics,and pick types.

Personally i swear by gravity guitar picks (search there's a thread in the dealers section), cause they make the notes jump easier ,with the proper amount of high end.

3)Try setting your maxon in unity gain with your amp.Back off just a bit your amp's gain,then set the pedal's output level roughly to the setting where the volume you hear with the pedal disengaged is the same with the volume you hear with the pedal engaged (just A/B switching the pedal on and off).This may help with the hiss.


Some general tips on amp settings :


4)Dial the amount of bass you feel is enough and compliments the tone,then back it off a bit.Most of the times you need less bass than you think.Bedroom players tend to forget that and when it comes to a rehearsal or a song mix guitar and bass will be fighting for space.If a bass is available to you ,try recording a riff with the bass and then dub the guitar over with different bass settings to see what fits best (same for the high end)

5)Not all amps behave the same.Some are too bassy,therefore they need a tubescreamer and lower bass settings,some have way too much treble therefore they may need backing off the treble knob a lot etc.Use your ear.Compare the CLARITY of the mid and high end you've dialed with commercial releases.Don't just imitate, try to dial the tone that compliments and helps your ideas "pass the message" , in relation to your music inspirations.

 

[Yoims]

These comments have helped out quite a bit, thank you guys.

I guess something I never really learned how to use was the presence and resonance knobs. They make a huge difference in the sound of the amp, and everywhere I have looked they barely seem to mention how to set them.

I'm going to try all of these things today and hopefully get some good results!

EDIT: Another thing I've noticed playing this amp is that the tone changes drastically depending on where you're facing the speaker. It can sound like shit if you're straight in front of the amp, and then sound amazing if you move a few feet left or right. I know that the sound will change depending on how the sound waves hit you, but this amp has an incredibly drastic difference just in my bedroom. I don't know if this is a bad thing, or if it's supposed to be like that, etc.

 

[groph]

These comments have helped out quite a bit, thank you guys.

I guess something I never really learned how to use was the presence and resonance knobs. They make a huge difference in the sound of the amp, and everywhere I have looked they barely seem to mention how to set them.

I'm going to try all of these things today and hopefully get some good results!

EDIT: Another thing I've noticed playing this amp is that the tone changes drastically depending on where you're facing the speaker. It can sound like shit if you're straight in front of the amp, and then sound amazing if you move a few feet left or right. I know that the sound will change depending on how the sound waves hit you, but this amp has an incredibly drastic difference just in my bedroom. I don't know if this is a bad thing, or if it's supposed to be like that, etc.

If it's possible, EQ your amp with your ear right up to the speaker as that's what a microphone would be picking up. Combo amps and cabs often are really directional, but micing would get rid of some of that since it's feeding into monitors which are firing right into your face and into the crowd at a gig. You'll be surprised at how little gain you need when you do this. If you're just playing in your room then do whatever, but it's interesting to EQ with your ear right up to the speaker.

 

[Yoims]

Turns out the crackle was coming from the NS2, now I really need to switch it out for the ISP. I changed the battery and put a fresh one in and the crackle reduced a lot, and now my bass notes sound much clearer. I'm still gonna end up replacing it though.

Also, I was recommended to swap the speaker on it for a Celestion G12K-100, do you guys think I should?

 

[GSingleton]

No to be a dick, but Drop A is AEADGB. Not F#

 

[Cheesebuiscut]

G12k100 is a well balanced speaker, kinda like a v30 without the mid spike from what I hear.

If you don't like your current speaker you could try it. Also you don't necessarily HAVE to get an isp, it might just be that specific ns2 that's faulty. I get 0 noise out of my ns2 and it works perfectly and is beast when using it in the 4-wire method which the decimator can't do unless you spend way more money on the fancy version.

For 40$ my ns2 does everything I need it to. I really can't imagine not gating the loop or the front end when a boost is going, the ns2 can do both really well on a ridiculously cheap pedal. I remember how a friends rig ALWAYS had noise and feedback issues because the decimator was always up front and nothing was gating the loop, or vice versa.

 

[Yoims]

GSingleton: Tune to that on 6 string and see how wonderful it sounds. On a 7 string it's AEADGBE, but when you tune it on a six string the G turns to F# to keep the intervals even between strings.

Cheesebuiscut: Yeah, it's either between a V30 or the G12, both will give a better tight low end and I plan on keeping this amp for a little while until I upgrade to a processor with a midi controlling footswitch. So I just want to see what you guys think about switching the stock one out of the 6505+ combo which I believe is a sheffield. The amp sounds great when I'm playing anything down to like Drop C, but when I drop lower the low notes aren't as tight and as clear.

Oh, and as for the NS2 loop, I'm actually going to try that in a bit. I think I did it wrong once before so I changed it back to guitar-overdrive-ns2-amp.

 

[AngstRiddenDreams]

No to be a dick, but Drop A is AEADGB. Not F#

Not on a six string.

 

[L1ght]

lol.. you've got your amp settings all wrong bro.

Presence: 10
Resonance: 0
Reverb: 0
High 10:
Mid: 3
Low: 4-5
Pre: 7

That's what I keep my settings on and I can get that "djnety" sound whenever. Got a crunchlab in the bridge.

 

[Cheesebuiscut]

Pres 10 high 10


bet that rapes peoples ears through walls.


Also here you go OP: